The Pulse of Life
by Blizzard Wolf Claw
Summary: After another boring day at school, I get sucked into a world I originally called fantasy. Now tasked with destroying Cocoon, I must fight the reality of my destiny just to see another day.
1. School Daze

Disclaimer: I do not own FFXIII or anything associated with it.

A/N: Hey folk! I've actually had this idea for like, ever, and now I really want to continue the tradition of FXIII SI's like my idols AeonLegacy and Deiru Tamashi, the latter actually being the main inspiration for me to start writing fanfiction in the FIRST place. I can only hope this story comes out HALF as well as Destinies Intertwined, but making a comparison ain't how it goes. Just make sure you enjoy, fave follow and yadda yadda, and I'm gonna shut up with my rambling so y'all can actually get to the story.

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 _A human from far away, cursed with the burden of saving two worlds, shall join the Six on their journey against fate…._

"Ugh, I can't stand that crazy heffa," I breathed, walking out of my AP Government class, clearly exasperated at the crap I just had to put up with. That teacher was incompetent, and that was being nice. He couldn't run a class, he couldn't teach, he couldn't even put his sweater on right! What nut wears a sweater in Georgia during the summer anyway? Doesn't he know that the South is hot?

Sighing in frustration, I quickly made my way to my bus and sat down on the first row, promptly taking out my headphones. Going to Youtube, I put on the song, "Satan, We're Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down," by one of my favorite singers, Shirley Caesar. Feeling much calmer with the music, I relaxed my head on the window as the rest of the kids filed in and sat down. A little while later, the bus driver left the school and dropped me off at my house.

Wishing her a good afternoon, I quickly left the bus and started to my house once again. Getting my house key, I opened the door and went to my room, quickly changing into better clothes, a blue shirt with turtles as well as some simple blue jeans and blue sandals.

Going out the back door, I went to the little creek in the backyard, where I always went to be alone. Sitting down, I took off my sandals and started to think about everything going on today. Thankfully, it was Friday, so I wasn't going to have to return to the torture house masquerading as an education facility tomorrow, but I wasn't out of the woods, yet. I had about 3 songs to learn for church on Sunday, and all three were pretty tough, so I started to hum one, my favorite that I had known a long time.

After a few minutes of humming, I heard a little splash a little ways away. Looking to my right, I turned to see a small snake heading further down the creek. Looking a little to the left, I saw a rabbit jumping in the same direction as the snake, confusing me.

Why would a rabbit go anywhere near a snake willingly? Curious, I put my sandals on and followed the animals further down the creek. Oddly, along the other way, I saw a few other animals going to the same direction, baffling me even more.

At the pond, I saw what had apparently attracted all the animals. The pool glowed a milky white, glowing as if it were a star in the middle of the night. Wondering what in the heck it was, I reached my hand out to the pool.

My hand sunk into it with ease, but then it started to pull me in. Struggling as hard as I could, the pool continued to suck me in like a vacuum. "Help!" I cried, to no avail as I knew no one ever came to this part of the woods. Fighting as hard as I could, the milky pool sucked me in while I struggled every step of the way.

Looking around, I saw nothing around me but white before I started hearing words in my head.

" _You have been chosen, young one. You must come to correct the mistakes of the future and mend the regrets of the past_ ," I heard. Before I could even utter a word, everything went black.

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A/N: That's the end of chapter 1! Now, I'm gonna try to make this as interesting as possible, but please bear with me!

Blizzard, out!


	2. I'm in Final freaking Fantasy 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or anything associated with it.

A/N: Here's the second chapter! I hope y'all can enjoy! Remember to fave, follow and review, and on with the story!

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"Ugh…" I moaned as everything started to come back to me. Opening my eyes, everything started to come to me. Looking up, I saw many weird thingies flying above me. Snapping to attention, I quickly jumped up to see people right in front of me sitting on edge.

"Oh, you're awake!" I hear behind me. Turning around, I see a familiar-looking girl with pigtails and an odd white suit with blue lights on it.

"Yeah….What's going on?" I asked her.

"Well….We were on the Purge train and….something happened. You got knocked out, so we took ya with us," she explained, before reaching in her robes and giving something to me. It was a beautiful dark blue sword that was about three-and-a-half feet long with a black hilt on it. "We found it next to you, so….we thought it was yours."

"Thank ya," I said, taking the sword from her. Staring at it for a second, I dazed out before being brought back to reality by someone else speaking.

"You all okay?" Looking up, I saw another familiar looking face, which I found creepy. It was a really tall man with rather messy blonde hair covered by a doo-rag. He had on a trench coat and some black pants with some huge boots.

Behind him, some other kid with blonde hair dropped a gun, causing the leader-looking one to look back. "Hey, careful with those," he warned, before turning back to us. "Don't worry, no one's moving to Pulse today."

After he said that, something clicked in my head. Pulse, purge train….Vanille….Snow….

Goodness gracious, I was in one of my favorite video games.

Before I could completely lose my mind, a man quickly got up next to me and interrupted Snow. "Wait! Let me fight with you!"

"Yeah!" another man jumped. "You can't expect us to just sit here!" In response, Snow thought for a moment, before turning to….Gadot, I think his name was.

"Could help," he said. Gadot muttered in agreement, and Snow looked back at us again before an explosion happened right behind him. Looking back at us, he said, "Okay then, volunteers front and center."

After a moment's hesitation, a lot of people behind me started to give up in order to get a gun. Biting my lip, I internally debated on whether or not I should go as well. Although I did practice with a wooden stick a lot at home, it was completely different with this new sword that was apparently mine. Also, I was never a fighter; I was always more peaceful and hated violence.

My musings left as one more person got up. She was an beautiful woman in a white sweater and….wait.

That's Nora. Nora ended up….dead. I couldn't let her die. "Hold up," I called out, walking up to her. "Stay with H-him," I said, stuttering intentionally as not to let Hope's name slip. "I'll take your place."

"Don't worry," she told me and Hope. "Moms are tough," she said before walking over to Snow and taking a gun. Cursing internally, I could only watch as she went up there with the rest of the volunteers. A few moments later, Snow came up to the rest of us with one gun.

"This is the last gun. Who wants it?" he offered. He started to give it to Hope, but the latter backed away and rejected it. Instead, Vanille offered to take it.

"Here!" Snow gave her the gun without much hesitation. When Vanille got the gun, she looked it over very quickly.

"Push comes to shove, keep everyone safe," Snow told her. In response, she pretended to shoot Snow with the gun, prompting me to snort with laughter, despite the situation we were in. "All right," he started to all of us. "Lay low, and you'll be fine. We're going to clear out the area." Just then I heard PSICOM soldiers rushing up near us. "We're getting out of here together!" he tried to rally, to no avail it seemed.

"Come on, everybody up!" Lebreau followed, which had more effect as some started to get up with urgency.

"New recruits, on me!" Gadot ordered, and said recruits quickly followed, with the exception of Nora who stopped for a second and looked at Hope, who had to get helped up by Lebreau, and then me.

"Hope, keep him safe," she said, staring right at me before she followed suit with everyone else. Looking back at Hope, I saw him staring at his mom running with Snow and the others. Encouraged to help Hope like she said, I quickly went up to him and patted him on the back.

"Hope right? Come on, we gotta get goin'," I told him.

"...Alright," he reluctantly agreed. Coming along, we went to the other way with Vanille, cautious of anything that could happen. "So….Who are you?"

"My name's Khimari," I answered, before noticing I was in the same ugly getup that Vanille had on. Stopping for a second, I looked around before I found the zipper thingy on the suit. Completely stepping out, I threw the white garment to the ground before stretching for a second and putting my sword sheath on my back. "Welp, that was a nice introduction. Now, let's get going so you can see your ma again." Nodding, Hope followed me as the whole group moved away from the conflict to cover.

A few minutes in, two panther looking machines jumped in front of us, looking ready to fight. Shocked for a second, I stood there before I remember what I was here for. Taking out my sword, I rushed forward and slashed at one, my sword cutting it very deeply. It made a fierce sound, and tried to claw at me.

Quickly reacting, I blocked it with Aurorus, which I had decided to name the sword, and retaliated with a kick to its side. Not giving any reprieve, I narrowed my eyes as I drove the sword into its body.

Seeing that the Pantheron wasn't moving anymore, I yanked the sword out and looked back to see another one running straight towards me. Putting up my sword, I prepared myself until it got destroyed by a hailstorm of gun bullets. Tracing back the bullets, I found myself looking at Vanille, who gave me a big smile as she walked over.

"I couldn't let ya have all the fun!" she said happily, which made me break out in a small grin. "Now, let's get going," she told us. Nodding, I was about to let her take point when a huge blast took our attention. Dropping the gun, Vanille immediately ran over to see what happened, Hope following suit. Running after the two, I looked in horror as the bridge started to break apart, leaving people nothing to hold onto as they fell to their death.

It only got worse when I saw the bridge breaking with two other people, Snow and Nora, falling down as well. As Snow grabbed Nora barely, I held my breath in fright for what was about to happen. Instinctively, I grabbed Hope's arm with my hand and pulled him in, not wanting him to see what was going to happen.

It would still come to pass however, as Nora couldn't hold on any more and slipped from Snow's grasp, falling to her death. Hope let out a painful wail of anguish, even though he never left my grasp. A few seconds later, Snow fell off the bridge as well.

"Hope…" I muttered quietly, having no words to comfort the poor child. Vanille put her hands on both of us, and yanked us in the other direction.

"Come on, we have to move!" she told us. Agreeing, I let go of Hope's arm and we all started running to find cover. A little while into the run, another Pantheron got in our way, but I wasn't particularly in a good mood over what happened to Nora.

"Get out of our way!" I yelled, rushing forward and slicing its head clean off. Sheathing my sword, I saw that the other survivors gathered just a little bit in front of us. Turning to the other two, I motioned for them to come on. Getting on the bridge structure thingy, we stopped, deeming this place as safe. "Are you….alright?" I asked Hope, seeing that he was eavesdropping on a mother comforting her child.

He didn't do anything except look down in response. Then, we both looked to the right when something hit the ground to see Vanille out of that ugly looking cloak.

She was cute. She had red pigtails and various necklaces and bracelets along with a skirt and some tan boots. Facing us, she went to pick up a gun and shoved it in Hope's hands. Seeing that he was clearly confused, she went up and hugged him. "It's too much, isn't it?" she rhetorically asked, patting him on his silver-haired head. Separating, she gave him a smile and said, "Face it later."

Turning her attention to me, she gave me the peace sign and told me, "Ciao!" before running in the opposite direction.

"Now hold on a second!" I yelled, running after her. Both Hope and I continued to follow Vanille through the battle-stained area, only stopping whenever she did. "What do you think you're doing?" I reprimanded when she finally stopped for more than three seconds.

"I'm leading!" she answered happily, leading me to roll my eyes. Just then, two air bikes flew over us and landed on the bridge.

"How about we all go together?" I offered, walking towards the two bikes to see who it was. Not surprising, the whole NORA squad had gathered around there and seemed to be have a talk about something.

"That's him," Hope said, looking right at Snow.

"Didn't….you have something to tell him?" Vanille asked.

"Well….Yeah," he conceded.

"Then go ask him," I put in.

"But…." he hesitated, really not excited nor comfortable with the thought of actually facing Snow.

"I'll go with you," Vanille offered, turning Hope's expression into one of surprise.

"I'll do it, too," I agreed, tapping Hope's shoulder. He started to breathe heavily, before running forward. He quickly stopped, and then just stared. Snow, not noticing us, kept talking to his buddies for a moment until he took off on the velocycle and headed toward the Vestige.

"Hey, wait!" Vanille yelled, waving her hands after she had a miniature tantrum. "Come back!" she screamed, to no avail as the leader of the rogue squad NORA continued his way to the Vestige. Seeing that he didn't hear her, she huffed loudly and then stopped for a second. Wondering what was wrong, I looked in her face and tracked her eyes to the lone velocycle that was left. Looking around, all of the NORA members seemed to be occupied with one thing or another.

"Hey, umm…" she started, turning to me and Hope. "You wouldn't know how to drive thi-"

"I surely don't," I interrupted, already batting that idea out of her head.

"...Do you?" she said, this time directly at Hope.

"Yeah, I think so," he admitted, causing the Pulsian girl to crack a wide smile. Before the poor kid knew what hit him, Vanille shoved him in the driver's seat. Wasting no time, she jumped right behind him, wrapping her arms around his stomach before looking at me. "Get on! Quick!"

Trying my best not to burst out laughing, I just nodded and got behind Vanille when the worst thing happened.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Gadot's voice called out. Looking back, I saw the bulky man quickly closing in on us.

"Hope, step on it!" I barked out. Hope followed through with that order quickly, getting the velocycle started and ready to go. "Sorry, we gotta go!" I told Gadot as Hope lifted us up in the air and on the way to the Vestige.

Granted, Hope didn't know how to fully operate the dumb think, guaranteeing a bumpy landing. That only showed when we started a crash course inside the Vestige.

"PLEASE TELL ME YOU CAN LAND THIS THING!" I yowled, almost drowned out by Hope and Vanille's screams as we crashed.

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A/N: And there goes Chapter 2! I hope y'all had an AWESOME Christmas, and I'll see ya next time!


	3. In the Vestige

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or anything associated with it.

A/N: Here's chapter 3 of the story! Here, hopefully things can pick up and get more exciting! So, folk, remember to review, fave and follow, but most of all, enjoy!

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"Ugh…." I groaned, shaking my head as I started to get up. Looking to the left, I saw Vanille and Hope beginning to stir as well. Turning to the right, I saw my sword lying on the ground. As the other two got up, I walked over to Aurorus and picked it up, putting it back in my sheathe.

"Well, that was close," Vanille muttered as she and Hope got up.

"Who are you telling?" I sarcastically bit back as I nudged Hope's shoulder, telling him to get on his feet.

"Now….Where is the…." Vanille paused when she saw the velocycle, smoking and totaled. "Whoops…." she said, before turning the other way. "Well then…I guess it's just us," she noted, putting her head down and making a diamond sign with her fingers.

"What did you think?" Hope replied rather harshly. In response, Vanille only looked back with a saddened face. "Even soldiers know not to go near the Fal'cie," he continued. "You become a Pulse L'cie, and you're finished."

"What do you mean, 'finished'?" Vanille challenged, walking closer to the teen.

"Haven't you heard, Miss…."

"Vanille!" she finished. She slightly huffed when Hope looked at her, clearly confused. "My name," she clarified. "And yours?"

"Hope." Coming closer, the Pulsian girl brushed Hope off fluffled his hair with a smile. "Thank you," the boy said, still a little bit shook.

"What were we thinking?" Hope quietly told himself as I walked forward towards the stairs.

"I have no idea," I answered, turning my head to look back at the two. "But, we should look around. Might find some clues from this pile of junk."

"Yeah!" Vanile enthusiastically agreed, running ahead of us and climbing on a structure.

"Now, what are ya-" I cut myself off when Vanille showed her binding rod, doing poses with it like some model.

"Well?" she asked, before doing more poses. Just then, I heard something hit the ground behind me. Turning around, I saw a Pantheron that didn't seem too friendly to us.

"I hope you can fight with that doohickey," I told her, taking out my sword.

"What's a...doohickey?" Vanille asked, which lead to me looking back at her like she grew a second head. I then shook my head remembering that no one here was from the South where I came from.

"I'll tell ya later, monster now!" I reflected as the mechanical beast ran towards us. Reacting quickly, I swiped its side twice before jumping back. Now good and angry, the mechanized tiger turned its eyes on me before an orange boomerang flew out of nowhere and knocked it on its head, causing it to go dead.

"Welp! Back to exploring!" Vanille declared, taking point. Hope and I filed behind as the pig-tailed teen led our trek through the Vestige. Very quickly, we saw an orb floating in the air to the left of us, surrounded by weird looking robot things.

Remembering a tip from the game, I quickly drew my sword and went ahead of Vanille. "Shh," I motioned when she was about to speak. "Sneak attack!" I whispered before running forward and slashing a Zwerg droid in the back, causing it to make a few noises before slumping down. Without missing a beat, I scrapped the other two, sending them to the junkyard Heaven. "C'mon over!" I told Hope and Vanille, who were still where they were when I started the assault.

"How'd you...do that?" Hope asked, looking down slightly.

"I mean, I always waved a tree branch like a sword in the yard at the house, so….it pays off?" I shrugged while Vanille checked the orb. She put her hand over the odd mechanism, and it glowed before giving her 4 potions. "Everyone, take one!" she said, giving one to me and another to Hope.

"Why do you get two?" I asked as we went off to explore more of the Vestige.

"Because I'm the oldest!" she cheerfully answered back. Knowing that she was indeed the oldest, I kept my mouth shut, although Hope thought differently.

"It's Khimari, right?" he stopped for a second. Nodding in confirmation, he continued, now sure of my name. "He's the oldest."

"I'm 19 years old, mister!" Vanille snappily replied, getting a cute little kiddy attitude. I just stifled a laugh while Hope looked pretty surprised at the age.

"And I'm just 16, so lead the way, old lady!" I said intentionally. Instantly, she snapped back at me with an angry smile on her face.

"I am _NOT_ old!" she rejected.

"But you're the oldEST!" I shot right back, knowing she had no way out. She came to the same conclusion, rolling her eyes and getting a grin while she turned around and led us deeper into the Vestige. Fighting more robots, we continued our exploration until we found another velocycle crashed by a way deeper into the creepy place. "That's probably his…." I muttered, putting two and two together.

"Where is he?" Hope asked, an edge entering his voice.

"Heck if I knew," I replied, walking on with Vanille, Hope slowing his pace.

"Aren't you guys scared?" he asked, making us turn around. "I mean…."

"Not so much," Vanille interjected after Hope paused.

"You really don't get it," the boy said, sounding empty. Vanille then started pacing around where we were.

"Pulse Fal'cie and L'cie are bad news," she began. "That's why Cocoon kicked them out. Live to close to the Fal'cie? One way ticket to Pulse!" she summarized, turning back around to look at Hope. "That's the Purge in a nutshell."

"If they catch us here, they'll purge us, too!" Hope said worriedly. "And then-"

"What's your problem?" Vanille interrupted, sounding irritated for probably the first time in her life.

"What's my-" Hope started as if he couldn't believe she would actually ask that. "Pulse is hell on earth!" Without any warning, Vanille came up and hugged hope, much like a big sister would to her little brother. "We'll be okay," she tried to ease. "Calm down."

It seemed that it didn't work, though, since Hope simply wormed from Vanille's hug and turned his back on her. "Get off me," he demanded rudely. Opening my mouth, I was about to reprimand the kid before another voice cut me off.

"Serah? Can you hear me? Where are you?" Snow's voice reverberated. The sound seemed to be coming from above, meaning that he was on a higher level. Walking over, I took Aurorus out its sheath and looked at it as I slid down a wall, assuming a sitting position on the cold ground of the vestige.

"What are you doing?" Hope asked, prompting me to look at him.

"Well, seems like we hit a dead en-"

Before I could finish, something above me started glowing brighter. Jumping to my feet, I raised my head to see orange beam-like lights forming, as well as a very bright blue light emanating from the ceiling.

"Hang on baby, your hero's on the way!" Snow's voice boomed again as a staircase formed near where I decided to sit.

"He _is_ here."

"Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious," I remarked, rolling my eyes.

"He's coming our way," Vanille pointed out, leaning in Hope's face.

"What should I do?" he asked.

"Talk to the guy," I answered. "Say what ya need to say."

"But….nothing I say will change what happened," he lamented.

"We could just...run away," Vanille suggested. Before I could interject, Hope nodded at the idea. Going along with the other two, I simply let out a quiet huff from my nose as we continued through the Vestige.

At the door, two pantherons decided to disturb our peace by showing their mechanized heads. Gripping my sword, I waited until one rushed at me to jump to the side and slice its side. Roaring in pain, it twisted to scratch me and raked its claws down my leg. Slightly flinching, I stabbed the dern thing in its head, causing it to whine for a few seconds before going completely black.

Looking over, I saw that Vanille and Hope finished the other one. Sheathing Aurorus, I grouped back up with the other two as we went through the door to a long hallway. Two more pantherons later, and we came to a four way crossroad.

When we got there, a horrible scream pierced my ears. Whipping my head to the sound, my expression turned to disgust at the sight of these _things_ walking towards us.

"What...are they?" Hope asked in fear while I tried not to puke.

"Cie'th!" Vanille explained. "L'cie who failed. This is what happens when a L'cie doesn't complete the Focus the Fal'cie gave them," she finished worriedly as the Cie'th started to surround us. As one got too close for comfort, I unsheathed Aurorus and cut its arm, disgusted as a purple goo came out of there. Backing up right next to Hope and Vanille, I looked at every side, as the monstrosities surrounded us, and stood wondering what would happen next.

Apparently, any guess I had about what would happen next didn't include Snow yelling and rolling under a Cie'th right to our side. "How about we even these odds!?" he yowled, trying to seem like a hero. Granted, he did come at the right time.

….Not that I'd ever tell him that.

Running forward, I cut a Cie'th across the….is that a stomach? I guess, midsection, and it let out a cry of pain before throwing its claws at me. Thinking fast, I grabbed its skin, internally gagging at how wrong it felt to touch this thing, and threw it as hard as I could, putting it off balance.

Giving no time, I stabbed the thing in the chest, and quickly yanked out Aurorus to turn to the next Cie'th.

"Stay away!" Snow yelled at me. Jumping back, I quickly became glad that I decided to listen as a grenade flew right where I stood a few seconds before. Detonating, the blast forced me to cover my eyes with Aurorus for a second. Lowering the sword, I saw that both the Cie'th laid on the ground, now unmoving not unlike the first one I dealt with.

Immediately, Hope fell to his knees in exhaustion, everything catching up to him, while Vanille bent over a bit, clearly not as tired. "What are you doing here?" Snow interrogated the three of us. "You gotta get outta here."

In response to his order, Vanille looked up and did a cute smile, making me want to facepalm. "Okay, listen," the tall blonde started. "Find someplace to hide and keep quiet," he ordered. "Once I find Serah, we'll all leave together."

He then started further into the Vestige, making some crummy joke about being home for dinner. Just then, Hope snapped out of his stupor and turned around, an angry expression covering his face. "You-"

"Wait!" Vanille interrupted, jumping in front of Hope. "Who's Serah?" she asked curiously, although she sounded worried for some reason or another.

"My wife...Well, future wife, that is," Snow answered. "She's a Pulse L'cie." Vanille tensed in horror, gasping. "She's here somewhere, along with that Fal'cie," Snow continued. "I'm gonna find her and set her free."

"What's wrong with you!" Hope yowled, his voice slightly echoing throughout the Vestige. "Why do you want to help a L'cie!? They're the _enemy_!" he raged. "How can you save a L'cie, and not…" he stopped for a second. "And not…That's insane!" Seeing the pain the poor boy was in, I grabbed his shoulder, and when he tried to shrug my hand off, I clasped harder, making the boy gasp and look back at me. I gave him one of those looks that a parent would give warning you to calm down right before you got a beating.

Thankfully, it worked, as he deflated, though his anger was far from gone. "Probably," Snow admitted, putting our gazes back on him. "But I gotta do something, right?" Without waiting for a response, he waved us goodbye and headed further in the Vestige for Serah, leaving the three of us there.

Wallowing in despair, Hope again dropped to his knees, pounding the ground with his fist. "Do you think we should wait for him and catch a ri-" Vanille started, before Hope pounded his fists in rage again.

"I'd rather go to Pulse!" he objected, showing how much he despised Snow. "Why is this happening to me!?" he asked to himself. "When they found the Fal'cie, we were only visiting Bodhum," he started, explaining the whole story. "But then the army took us...and put us on that train. And because of that guy, Mom is…."

"Hey Hope," I called, making him look up from the ground. "We're with ya," I reassured, giving him a hand to help him off the ground. Just then, Snow ran back up the stairs.

"Hey….again," he said goofily, causing me to roll my eyes. Vanille and I both returned the gesture, before the pigtalied girl crouched down to Hope.

"C'mon, let's go with him," she suggested, making him look at her like she was crazy. "This is your chance to tell him how you feel. If you don't do it know, you'll regret it forever."

Now convinced, Hope nodded in agreement, and got up. Snow, obliviously as ever, waved his hand and said, "Let's go." With nothing left, I shrugged before following the large buffoon further into the resting place of the Pulse Fal'cie.

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"Serah!" Snow yelled as he jumped off the descending platform. Looking to ourselves, we decided to join him and jumped off as well. Running forward, I looked to see Lightning and Sazh, if I recalled correctly, along with a rose-haired girl lying on the ground.

In a second, I remembered that it was Serah. She looked absolutely stunning, even as she was in the state she was in. Staying back, I watched with sadness at the situation unfolding in front of my eyes.

Suddenly, Serah started to rise on her own, a blue light glowing from the brand on her body. Realizing what was happening, my eyes widened and my breath ceased as I stared at her rising higher, higher….

Then, crystal quickly covered her body, encapsulating her within seconds. Like that, it was finished.

Serah had completed her focus.

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A/N: And that's that! Now, sorry for being unexplainably late, but school sucks. That's really all I have to say about that.

Hope ya liked it, and I'll see ya soon! (by my standards, idk when soon is)

Blizzard, out!


	4. The Fal'cie

A/N:

 _Last time on The Pulse of Life..._

 _Staying back, I watched with sadness at the situation unfolding in front of my eyes._

 _Suddenly, Serah started to rise on her own, a blue light glowing from the brand on her body. Realizing what was happening, my eyes widened and my breath ceased as I stared at her rising higher, higher…._

 _Then, crystal quickly covered her body, encapsulating her within seconds. Like that, it was finished._

 _Serah had completed her focus._

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Where Serah Farron had laid, a large crystal floated in her place. The light shimmering in my eyes, I couldn't move my vision away from the girl nor could I form any coherent thought in my mind about the moment. She truly….did it.

"Sweet Dreams?" Lightning snarled, pushing Sazh aside and snapping me from my stupor. "She's not sleeping!" she yelled, grabbing Snow's trench coat by the collar. "She's…" It was incredible to see Lightning release Snow, and look down on the brink of tears.

"She's alive!" the NORA leader finished, snapping the soldier's attention back to him. "The legend! Remember the legend!" he reminded. "L'cie who fulfill their focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life. It's the same with Serah! She's not dead!" he reasoned, pacing around before stopping right in front of Lightning.

"Serah's my bride to be," he continued. "I promised to be hers forever. I don't care how many years I have to wait-"

Lightning promptly silenced him with a solid punch to the face that sent him flying to the ground. "It's over!" she declared. "Open your eyes and face reality!"

Looking at the two, I really didn't know what to feel. On one hand, I knew that Snow's hope would be the key to everyone continuing on, but in that moment, everything just seemed drenched by sorrow and despair. Without thinking, I started to move towards Serah's crystalline body before a blast force shook me off balance.

"The army!" Sazh yelled, reminding us of the efforts to blow the Vestige to pieces. Quickly, we all assumed positions trying to protect our heads from the falling debris. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Lightning and Snow cover Serah.

After a couple moments, the tremors stopped and the ceiling stopped collapsing. Looking up, the door ahead immediately grabbed my attention, glowing a weird black and red symbol before it disappeared and opened, revealing a long hallway. Wondering what we should do next, Snow stepped forward, only to be questioned by Sazh.

"Hey, Trench Coat! Where are you going?" the clear elder said.

"Date with the Fal'cie. Got some things to talk about."

"Uh…..you got some screws loose?" I retorted, walking up to him. "That thing ain't gonna welcome ya with some hot tea."

"Well, what should I do then!?" he snapped at me, clearly just as lost as I was.

"..." With nothing to say, I sighed before walking past Snow.

"Now where are you going?" Snow asked me.

"Talk with the Fal'cie," I mocked. "The pot done already started stinkin', so might as well deal with it," I said tiredly, with my full Southern drawl showing.

"What does that even mean? And why do you sound like that?" the blonde interrogated.

"It's called an accent," I said as a small crowd of Cie'th made their way over to us. "Learn it," I said before taking out Aurorus. With a scoff of disbelief, Snow joined me, followed by Lightning and everyone else in suit.

The first two Cie'th gave a horrific shriek when they arrived, making my ears hurt. Now further annoyed, I ran forward and slashed the thing on its face, forcing it back. Pushing forward, I stabbed Aurorus into its stomach and rammed it to the ground.

Somewhat satisfied, I took the sword out and watched the beast quiver in agony before going still. Looking up, I saw a flying one coming right toward me. Hastily preparing myself, I stood at the ready until a mass of rods came from nowhere and clasped around the Cie'th. Ensnared, the monster struggled until it got smashed into the wall, followed by the ground.

It, too, tried to get up after that beating, but failed as per two bullets from Sazh's guns. With those bothers done, we advanced towards the hall, beating back the occasional Cie'th.

Before long, we arrived to the entryway of the Fal'cie's lair. Walking down, we all looked around, amazed as small crystal lights glittered in the air around us. Curious, I reached out for one, only for it to seemingly fade away in my hand, like a small snowflake melting on contact.

Looking forward, a large metallic looking thing took all my attention away. It had symbols on it and many wires attached on the main body, and I could _feel_ something emanating from it.

"The Fal'cie…" I said to myself, hardly a whisper. Getting a closer look, I walked closer, though not too close in case it would try anything.

"Serah's a crystal, now," Snow started, going even closer to the thing. "You gave her a focus, and she did it! You got what you wanted! So let her go!" he tried to bargain. The sight became pitiful as nothing in the room moved a muscle, especially the seemingly lifeless Fal'cie. For the longest time, silence plagued the room until Snow dropped to his knees and groveled. "Please," he begged. "Turn her back! I'll be your L'cie instead!" he offered, making me try very hard not to smack him upside the head.

Sighing rather loudly, I started playing with my hand until Lightning decided to cut into the conversation. "Keep begging if you want," she told the blonde, reaching for her gunblade. "Like this thing gives a damn what we want!" she yelled, bursting in anger and slicing at the Fal'cie. Her gunblade produced nothing but sparks from the being, even as the force of her blows forced herself to recoil back.

"Hey now," I called, feeling a need to get her temper in reign before she did something crazier.

"It's this thing's fault the Purge started," she explained. "It's people who are dying. Serah told us to save Cocoon," she told Snow, although the message resonated something in all of us. "That means this thing need to die!"

Just then, the floor lit with a bright yellow blaze. Not but a few seconds later, the entire room lit up and the Fal'cie started to emerge from a light coming through a crack. Two arm-like structures came out of the holes to the side, and the light in the crack strengthened immensely, to the point where we all had to cover our eyes.

When the light faded, we looked to see the Fal'cie Anima in all its glory. With a Pulse L'cie tattoo branded above its purple crystal, the….thing had a menacing feel to it, as if it wanted to do something with us.

Hearing footsteps, I looked back to see Hope running away. "Go get him," I told Vanille, who nodded and went after the silver-haired boy. Meanwhile, I pulled Aurorus out of its sheathe, preparing for the upcoming battle.

Snow began the fight by running up to the Fal'cie's crystal and attempting to punch it. He got one hit in, however a metal claw shoved him back away. Before he could renew an assault, one of the "arms" attacked us, spinning around like a mixer before slamming into the ground. "Let's get rid of these things first!" I called, attacking the arm. Thankfully, Lightning joined me in the assault, making quick work of it. A few seconds later, Sazh and Snow took out the other arm.

"Let's go!" Lightning called, rushing forward and delivering strikes to the now defenseless Fal'cie. All of us followed her lead, peppering the cause of all this mess with blow after blow. Eventually, the Fal'cie released a powerful energy it had been building up. Both of its mechanical arms reformed, and the claw forced us back. Getting slightly frustrated we couldn't take it out in one go, I attacked the left arm with reckless abandon, only for it to charge something. Remembering what was coming, I quickly ran back, only getting slight damage from its magical attack. After it finished, Snow and I double teamed it, slicing the arm down to size. Going to the other one, we quickly destroyed it before it could do that magic crap, too.

With those out the way again, we attacked the glowing jewel, which seemed to be growing cracks under the pressure of our assault. Right when it seemed we were finished, the arms came back again, making my temper go through the roof for the first time in a while.

"I'm not dealing with this bull again!" I yelled, running forward and smashing Aurorus on the jewel. It whirred in a whining sort of fashion, making me run back just in case. Instead of attacking, a bright flash emerged, blinding all of us.

When the light went away, I saw a GIANT….thing standing over all of us. Before I could even begin to get my bearings straight, aura-like tendrils lashed out, grabbing all of us. I struggled with everything I had, but couldn't break free. Helpless, I watched another tendril touch my leg. Something burned, causing me immense pain, before everything went black.

XXXXX

A/N: That's the end of that! Now….considering most of this was written out in July, I really have no excuse for finishing this late…..I just have to do better, which I'm resolving to do with this upcoming New Years. With that, chao~

Blizzard, out!


End file.
